A study by the Argentine University of La Plata's Insect Neurobiology Laboratory released this week detected that certain mutations of the dengue-causing aedes aegypti mosquito is more resistant to insecticides than previously thought. The research was focused on the type of insect dominant in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA) ahead of the Summer season, during which an outbreak of the malady is feared.
The Argentine province of Misiones, one of the most vulnerable to the spread of dengue and other maladies carried by the aedes aegypti mosquito, has upped preventive actions ahead of the warmer seasons when infections among humans tend to multiply.
The first semester of 2024 ended in Brazil with 6.1 million probable dengue cases and 4,250 deaths with other 2,730 fatalities still under investigation, Agencia Brasil reported Monday citing the federal Health Ministry's arbovirus monitoring panel. The malady's incidence rate is now 3,033 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and the lethality rate is 0.07.
Paraguayan health authorities said the number of dengue cases was declining. Still, they told the population to look out for oropouche, another mosquito-borne virus that causes symptoms similar to those of dengue. Instead of the Aedes Aegypti, or pouches is carried by the Culicoides Paraensis mosquito.
Dengue fever has killed over 2,000 people in Brazil while almost 4.2 million cases of the malady have been confirmed this year in South America's largest country. The incidence rate of the disease is 2,056.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Chilean health authorities said that dengue fever was on the rise nationwide last week, now totaling 228 confirmed cases, none of them autochthonous (patients with no recent travel history) in Chile's mainland. Nevertheless, local experts underlined that the Aedes Aegyppti mosquito was present in the country as a result of weather abnormalities stemming from climate change.
Paraguayan producers Wednesday dispatched the first shipment of mosquito repellent to Argentine, where President Javier Milei's administration opened up the borders to import this product in a move to curb black-market-like prices given the high demand stemming from the onset of a dengue fever outbreak.
Uruguayan authorities announced Monday in Montevideo that 80 new cases of dengue fever have been confirmed nationwide, 55 of them autochthonous (i.e., in patients with no recent travel history) and 25 imported.
Dengue fever has killed over 1,000 Brazilians so far this year while other 1,531 deaths are under investigation, federal authorities admitted Wednesday. The Health Ministry's Arbovirus Panel said 1,020 deaths from the disease have been recorded whereas the total number of casualties from the same ailment in 2023 amounted to 1,079. The country has recorded some 2.6 million infections, Agencia Brasil also reported.
The latest epidemiological report of the Argentine health authorities on the dengue fever outbreak mentions 129 deaths and a total of 180,529 cases since the beginning of the 2023-2024 season until the 12th week of 2024. Among the dead is the country's first celebrity - the 33-year-old wife of a professional golfer, who died over the weekend.